Does humility mean feeling that we are fallen or does it mean not letting our ego come int the way of our service?

Answer Podcast

I mentioned that Humility doesn’t necessarily mean Thinking I am so fallen It means that Prabhupada says do not be anxious To have the satisfaction of being honoured by others That is humility But the Acharyas also talk about In their songs I am so fallen I am so I would say that We always have to have a holistic picture Of any Acharya Holistic picture means that Yes an Acharya has written songs like this But then we look at the Acharya’s life also What do we see Bhaktivinod Thakur When he is Expounding Siddhanta For example He is writing He is writing in an authoritative tone Not in a dominating tone But still A person who is reading that book can see He is an intelligent person And he is writing So there he doesn’t I am so fallen, I am so sinful So I would say there is Just like we said Devotion can be emotion Devotion can also be seen as dedication Somebody may not be just Dancing You know that famous pastime of Prabhupada When One Prabhupada’s servant He asked Prabhupada Prabhupada whenever you go to any place The devotees welcoming you are just dancing And they are crying tears When you are leaving And there also the devotees are dancing and crying tears I am constantly with you but I don’t cry any tears But Prabhupada I am with you but you are serving me So Prabhupada considered that servant’s attitude That dedication As an equally if not more important Symptom of devotion So devotion can be emotion Devotion can also be dedication So same way Humility can be an emotion Which is expressed fervently Through some songs At particular times But that is not the only Only Only form of humility Humility can also be disposition Where One feels dependent on Krishna One feels that it is Krishna Without Krishna’s guidance I cannot speak anything I cannot write anything But thereafter one actually speaks Thereafter one actually Speaks determinately Confidently Persuasively So we shouldn’t Stereotype humility Basically The Acharya That is in Acharya’s life also That is humility I am very fallen But is that the only thing That they are saying Is that the only mood that they are having Even Krishnaswami he does say that I am so fallen I am more fallen than a worm in a stool But then look at the many other places he is speaking strongly Condemning this Siddhanta Even condemning some other deviant of Vishnu Or whatever So it’s not a You can’t stereotype humility That’s the main point So for us functionally There are moments When we feel like that also We feel very fallen But We don’t live In the kind of culture Which the Acharyas were living in We live in a culture where many people Have enormous self-esteem issues Many people have huge inferiority complex And that is because This world is far more competitive than it was In fact the whole term inferiority complex Is 100-150 years old It’s only when the urbanized society came up That people Were exposed to far more people Than in the past And because of that Exposure to many other people There is too much competition So there is a whole Other kind of psychological issues That people are facing And in trying to simulate Or Trying to apply that kind of humility That I am so fallen People may just Have psychological issues Or when we speak like that People may think that we have psychological issues So we have to be careful Both in our own application And our own perception by others So I would say at our level In today’s world also People appreciate humility In the form of team spirit That is one way I have a question How can we apply humility in a professional environment today In a job setting So in a team spirit people appreciate If there is a team and 4-5 people are working If I just You know This is the only way to do it People don’t like it if you have a team spirit You hear some other suggestion also You take it when it is good That is also humility at one level That is something which people can appreciate So another way I explain humility Humility means to not let our ego Come in the way of our purpose So purpose is to serve Krishna And if that requires us to take a humble position We will take that in terms of Just accepting somebody else’s opinion That requires us to establish Our opinion strongly We will do that also